"International
support should be provided, on request, to countries seeking
to develop the national capacities needed for planning and
managing basic education programmes. International support
could include training and institutional development in data
collection, analysis and research, technological innovation,
and educational methodologies. Management information systems
and other modern management methods could also be introduced,
with an emphasis on low and middle level managers" (Framework:
60,61).

The purpose
of this section is to ask:

what
mechanisms for capacity building are likely to be most effective?

which
kinds of equity and impact issues can and should be addressed
in capacity building, and how?

what
lessons does past experience shed on capacity building that
are relevant to the increasingly widespread sectoral approach?

To set
the scene, we examine the way in which technical co-operation
has declined over the 1980s/1990s.

12.1
The Slow Decline of Technical Co-operation

The 'traditional'
form of assistance was a large number of teachers from the
colonial metropolis. This was replaced, for many agencies,
by 'expert' technical assistance - which still often meant
senior teachers or assistance in the curriculum departments.
Within the education sector, technical co-operation consistently
accounted for between 70% and 75% of all agency support; and
a large slice of that agency support is often spent in the
agency country itself on education and training courses for
nationals from developing countries. Around the time of Jomtien,
questions began to be raised about the value of Technical
Assistance.

The basic
problem was seen as the lack of institutionalisation of knowledge
skills and values - in that very few of the skills of the
highly technical expatriate staff appeared to have been passed
on to the personnel in the partner country - hence the 'new'
emphasis on management or institutional development. For example,
a Sida document talking in general says:

"Knowledge
and capacity must be boosted, to enable the African countries
to shape an effective policy of their own to combat poverty.
One fundamental prerequisite for this is for the countries'
systems of skills provision at various levels to be developed,
as well as their competence in utilising and developing knowledge.
Concurrently with continued support for basic education to
permit universal participation in democratic social development,
vocational training centres and universities must be developed"
(Lind and McNab 1999).

As far
back as 1978 the World Bank recognised that it showed insufficient
concerns for helping to develop local capacity "to plan, manage,
research and develop their education system" (cited in Allsop
and Brock, 1993). However, in a review fifteen years later,
Redkin (1994) suggested that, from the World Bank point of
view, the results of TA activities have been disappointing
with "gap filling" working reasonably well in some circumstances,
but TA for training and institutions-building failing to leave
behind any real improvement in local national capacity.

In only
a few cases did the documentation from the countries which
was made available to us show this breakdown between technical
co-operation and other categories of aid. Where data was given,
for example from Irish Aid and NORAD, the proportions on technical
co-operation seemed to be much lower than the proportions
mentioned earlier (see Box 12.1).

Box
12.1

Ireland

Approximately
17.7% of bilateral ODA was on TA in 1990/91, but the overall
number of TAs have been dropping over the last five years
[until 1993] ... with short term, regular short visits instead
(Gaynor, p.81). Indeed, 'It must be acknowledged that it will
not always be possible to match the needs of developing countries
education systems with Irish based expertise' (Gaynor, p101)

Norway

Technical
Co-operation appeared to remain at about 25% throughout although
speaking specifically of education, they also said:

"Recipient
responsibility to plan and implement sector reforms and programmes
is a prime objective of Norwegian development assistance.
If much of the sector programme has been undertaken by foreign
technical assistance, then this is not in line with Norwegian
development policy. [...]"

12.2
The All-encompassing Nature of the New Capacity Building

The solutions
were mostly seen to involve developing capacity across a wide
range of personnel and a realisation that this would involve
a shift towards supporting institutions for a long time. However,
it is also clear that there are difference between the agencies.
Whilst many would agree with the kinds of personnel suggested
by Germany (Box 12.2), i.e. nearly all specialist personnel
at the central level and especially management, others tend
to focus on local level substantive technical personnel. For
example, Belgium, 'emphasise capacity building' but 'with a
view to the expansion of high-quality primary education and
basic training for young people and adults (personal communication).

Box
12.2

Germany

developing
capabilities in analysis, planning, system and financial
management as well as educational research.

upgrading
the requisite specialist personnel in planning and administration

developing
appropriate monitoring and evaluation instruments

curriculum
upgrading

qualification
and upgrading of specialist personnel

specialist
support in developing curricula and carrying out curriculum
reform

specialist
support in teaching methods and didactics in basic education

The long-term
nature of the commitment was also seen as necessary because
of some of the newer thematic requirements - such as gender
awareness - involved changing attitudes throughout a very widely
dispersed institution (see Box 12.3).

Box
12.3

In discussing
gender aspects of primary school textbook in Mozambique, Zambia
and Zimbabwe, Brickhill, Hoppers and Pehrsson (1996) say "SIDA
has to enter into a long term and comprehensive commitment
with the programme controls for capacity development in this
area. Training should go beyond committed individuals and
aim at developing a gender response mechanism within the existing
institutions." (pv)

Brickhill,
Hoppers, Pehrsson (1996)

One of
the consequences of such a broad approach appears to be it has
been difficult to identify the proportions of aid spent on capacity
building; and, a fortiori, the actual amount. This was also
a complaint ten years ago!

"The problem
is that it is not possible to estimate the proportion or the
actual amounts provided for capacity building. Due to the increase
in NPA assistance, the proportion identifiable as education
research or support for planning units, administrative strengthening,
curriculum units, etc. would appear to be going down in an accounting
sense. However, it is clear that there is substantially increased
support for such strengthening", (USAID: Response to 1991 Questionnaire
analysed in King and Carr-Hill).

12.3
Mechanisms for Capacity Building

There
have been five major approaches to increasing the building
of local capacity (although it is almost impossible to quantify
the relative commitment to, or expenditure on, different approaches):

taking
able individuals out of country (usually with scholarships)
to the agency country institutions, training them appropriately
and presuming they will return to a higher post in the hierarchy
from whence they came;

support
for training through International Organisations;

in-country
courses to train local cadres;

counterpart
training via long term Technical Assistance/Co-operation;

building
up of tertiary institutions and development of local research
capacity.

12.3.1
Scholarships

This was
still a common mode of delivery for some of the other agencies
of aid during much of the 1990s even though the focus was meant
to have shifted (see Box 12.4).

Box
12.4 Canada

A review
by Mundy shows how although there was rhetorical commitment
to poverty alleviation etc. CIDAs education sector work continued
to be concentrated on high level training in Canada and tertiary
level education (Mundy 1996 : 13).

Only a
few bilateral agencies now admit to providing funds for substantial
numbers of scholarships: for example, New Zealand's ODA which
is nearly all in the Pacific Region or in South East Asia also
concentrates on education and training awards for in-country.
Multilateral agencies continue to use fellowships (e.g. UNDP,
World Bank) and scholarships. An alternative is recycling senior
government officials through international seminars and workshops,
which are growing in number.

12.3.2
Support Through International Organisations

The International
Institute for Educational Planning established by UNESCO in
1963 in Paris, is the centre for advanced training and research
in the field of educational planning and administration. It
trains 60 students each year. It is currently supported by nearly
all agencies. An evaluation by Sida (Williams et al, 1996) commented
on 'the high regard in which it is generally held' (p.90). There
have been a number of other specialist programmes at international
level. Since the trend to condition aid on local policy analysis,
the lack of local capacity to provide baseline data and to integrate
those with coherent policy goals has become increasingly evident
to all agencies. Because of this concern over the quality of
the basic statistics available in country, there is also international
support for the NESIS courses managed through UNESCO, which
take place on a regional basis.

12.3.3
Counterpart Training

One of
the proposed mechanisms for capacity building was counterpart
training in which a long-term consultant endeavours to transfer
expertise by working alongside a local expert in order to improve
their performance. The problem is that the process, not only
depends on the pedagogical competence of the particular TA,
and of the receptivity of the particular counterpart, but also
on the stability of the institutional structure (in order that
officials continue to be paid and are not moved on arbitrarily).
The frequent shortfalls, in one or both of these respects, is
one of the reasons why there is a revival of interest in across-the
board training in-country.

12.3.4
In-Country Courses

These
have been of two kinds:

Both
in accordance with the spirit of Jomtien and for reasons
of economy, some countries have experimented with in-country
MA courses as a substitution for either individual scholarships
abroad or building up tertiary institutions. These have
proved very difficult to organise successfully (see evaluation
by Carr-Hill et al (1996) of Sida programmes in Mozambique
and in Guinea-Bissau).

Other
agencies have become preoccupied with the implications of
in-country decentralisation for capacity building of often
hundreds of local governments and their staff - or at least
all the head-teachers - and have supported short courses
in different regions of the country in order to support
the reform process (e.g. PRISM in Kenya as part of SPRED
I DFID; e.g. "promoting effective management in schools"
Netherlands).

Both of
these approaches are recognised to have their limitations
in the long term.

12.3.5
Building Up Tertiary Institutions and Local or Regional Research
Capacity

For many
agencies in the 1980s, this was the preferred form of support
(e.g. Norway, UK) usually through scholarships and fellowships;
and the consequence is that there are in many countries now
large numbers of highly trained nationals. But, because of
the salaries and the poor infrastructure, most are also working
in the private sector; and so are not easily available as
a resource to the government.

For this
reason, although several agencies have shifted the focus of
their support to primary education (see Chapter 6), many also
argue that (appropriate) tertiary education is an essential
component of an integrated approach to basic education; although
there is little sign of anyone addressing the basic problem
of salary structures.

Tertiary
and Research Capacity and/or Building up Tertiary Institutions:
DSE, Norway, UK, CDB

12.4
Impact and Equity of Capacity Building

In this
section, we address three questions:

to
what extent do the agencies (and the partner governments)
monitor the social utility of those trained?

how
have the capacity building efforts been distributed between
men and women, different cultural/ethnic groups etc?

is
the local or regional capacity used?

12.4.1
Monitoring of Capacity Building Efforts

The different
types of capacity building imply different kinds of monitoring:

scholarships
- individual tracking

support
through international institutions - records at those institutions

in-country
training courses - national assessment

counterpart
training - institutional assessment

tertiary
institutions - regional recognition of those institutions

The extent
to which there can be successful monitoring depends, of course,
on the type of capacity building. One would not expect individual
tracking of those attending courses, whilst one would not
expect national assessment of those who are on scholarships
and fellowships abroad. Although there is no systematic information
available across the agencies, it seems clear that part of
the dissatisfaction with the scholarship or fellowship mode
was related to the difficulties of tracking them and that
the success or otherwise of counterpart training was essentially
subjective. Equally, because the training was spread across
several sectors, it was difficult for the partner country
to maintain any central record. But the success of the 'newer'
forms of central capacity building are equally hard to monitor
and evaluate and, although there have been many brave attempts,
there appears to be no consensus as to what works best.

12.4.2
Equitable Impact of Capacity Building

Only a
few of the agencies give any detailed breakdown of who actually
receives scholarships, attends a course at the IIEP (or other
institution), is on the receiving end of counterpart training,
gets to be on their courses, or which faculties get supported,
so that it is even more problematic to analyse, for example,
gender disparities (although Ireland did document the extent
to which the scholarships that they awarded were now more fairly
distributed between men and women).

12.4.3
Is the Local or Regional Capacity Used ?

Whilst
local governmental capacity is weak, it has increasingly been
acknowledged that there are large numbers of highly trained
nationals working in the private sector; and the 'use of regional
networks and of local experts' helps to create balanced and
symmetrical relationships (NORAD). They, obviously, have several
advantages: knowledge of culture and institutions; no adjustment
time required; and reduced costs through no air-fares and
smaller per-diems (because hotel not required).

Unfortunately,
the major advantage as perceived by many agencies appears
to have been simply that they could pay a much smaller daily
rate than to 'international' consultants. This has led to
some bitterness and lack of co-operation, although the EU
Code of Conduct goes some way to solving that.

12.5
Capacity Building and Sectoral Approach

From the
perspective of Sector Wide Approaches, institutional development
needs to focus on three main issues (Ratcliffe and Macrae
1999):

Government
capacity to lead the sector development processes, including
strategic analysis and budgetary/financial analysis;

the
creation of structures, systems and incentives in both public
and private sectors, to manage and deliver education services;

the
establishment of management systems, both within Government
and agencies, which facilitates common management systems,
through Government processes and procedures.

Many agencies
have gone along with this, seeing institutional capacity building
as a natural consequence of the sectoral approach, especially
in terms of strengthening the central government's capacity
to plan, manage etc. But, the current trend for decentralisation
(which is meant to be associated with the sectoral approach)
creates great need for training for a number and variety of
personnel. Indeed, in principle, capacity should be trained
at all levels including teachers.

There
have also been programmes of training middle level personnel
in-country (see above and Box 12.5), but these tend to be
overshadowed in the urgent imperative to establish the strong
national framework to create the conditions for receiving
aid and therefore create the capacity to participate in the
policy dialogue. Yet, the longer attention is focused at the
central level, the more likely it is that any tendencies towards
decentralisation will be reversed.

Box
12.5:

The Joint
Review Mission in India Capacity building of state and district
level resource persons working for quality improvement is
a major issue. Often there is not enough resource material,
ideas and experiences available to such resource persons.
Apart from regular training programmes and workshops, it is
useful to provide resource material/reading material to them
on a regular basis to upgrade their ability to contribute
to the pedagogical renewal process. In addition to what states
are doing, a bi- monthly dispatch is also being published
from the national level for use at the state/district level.
More such initiatives at the state and district level need
to be started and supported in the coming months" (DPEP 1988
:74).

Of the
eleven states visited, only three were reported to have adequate
staffing in post (numbers not quality) and five of them had
serious shortages or equivalent.

12.6
Conclusions:

The level
of technical co-operation has declined and changed in nature,
partly because of their presumed ineffectiveness (because
the personnel involved moved on), there appears to have been
a conclusive move away from scholarships in the North and,
to a lesser but still substantial extent, away from counterpart
training via long term technical co-operation. Instead, the
majority of agencies do indeed emphasise institutional capacity
building, strengthening, etc., although exactly what this
entails is not always clear, and there is even less information
as to which method is most effective.

In practice,
many countries appear to focus on (financial) management and
planning systems at central and eventually provincial/regional
level. Yet, if the move towards institutional capacity building
is to be taken seriously, then all the actors in the system
from teachers and village school committees upwards have to
be drawn into the process. Some of the programmes include
support for these activities; and although success stories
are highlighted in agency material, there is only limited
evidence as to the extent to which they happen.

12.7
Outstanding Issues

Careful
attention is required by agencies to ensure that shifting
support in favour of the SWAp mechanism genuinely contributes
to a better use of scarce governmental time and resources.
SWAps are unlikely per se to reduce the intensity of effort
required by government departments, since they imply governments
increasingly taking responsibility for using aid resources
themselves.

The institutionalisation
of knowledge and skills is likely to require increased investment
of time and resources in training, particularly in view of
the particular demands of sector-wide approaches. Agencies
need to consider whether it is realistic to negotiate for
sector wide reform at the same time as encouraging capacity
building involving the same staff. Whatever training programmes
are instituted, they need to include staff in the field as
well as headquarters. At least as important is attention to
promoting in-country training in collaboration with developing
country governmental and non-governmental partners.

Whichever
approaches are adopted by agencies, they should be properly
evaluated. At a minimum, there must be sufficient information
available to know how many people have been trained and what
posts they are now occupying. Without basic monitoring information
of that kind, it is impossible to assess the equity and impact
of capacity building.

Discrimination
between local and international consultancy capacity has to
be addressed more systematically. The widespread adherence
to the EU Code of Conduct would help; but it also requires
a 'culture change' among the agencies to recognise the inequity
of the current 'terms of trade'.